Mason-Dixon Poll shows Perdue with 19 point lead.

The poll of 625 voters, conducted Sept. 23-27 by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, showed Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue with a 19-point lead over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor with five weeks to go before the Nov. 7 election.

OVERALL RESULTS

Perdue 53%
Taylor 34%
Hayes 2%
Undecided 11

Overall, 53 percent of those surveyed backed Perdue, meaning the governor is positioned to avoid a runoff with his Democratic rival.

Perdue led Taylor in all regions of the state and was the choice of 58 percent of men and 49 percent of women respondents. Taylor was picked by 31 percent of male voters and 38 percent of women voters. Libertarian candidate Garrett Hayes was backed by 2 percent of those surveyed. About 11 percent of those polled were undecided about the state’s next chief executive.

Poll respondents such as Gail Samford of Avondale Estates and Richard Stratford of Smyrna said allegations that Perdue benefited from a sweetheart land deal and that Taylor benefited from his family’s business dealings with the state have not affected their choices in the race. Samford will vote for Taylor; Stratford will vote for Perdue.

“I don’t pay a lot of attention to the ethics allegations,” said Samford, 59, who works part time in sales. “It’s just politics and doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.”

Stratford, 45, who also works in sales, agreed: “None of them are lily-white. It’s all politics.”

Taylor will go negative on Disneygate. It will not close the gap, but may tighten the race. There is no anti-Perdue emotion in black community. Where does Taylor go to get to 51%? He can’t even bring the Democratic Party together.

OK, out of the goodness of my heart I’ve tried to give the Taylor camp helpful hints to creep up in the polls during these lazy halcion days. They won’t ask Howard Dean to campaign with Mark, they won’t bring in Cindy Sheehan, and they won’t do a commercial with Jane Fonda. What seems to be the problem?
Maybe they should’ve just gone ahead and run Big Daddy instead.